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The keys to avoiding weight gain or losing weight are the same — diet and exercise.

Most patients after undergoing a knee replacement surgery, look forward to the day when they no longer have the nagging pain and an active life.

But most people actually gain weight after Knee replacement which is a serious risk for their recovery. With attention to diet and appropriate exercise, you should be able to ward off or, if necessary, one must try the best to shed those unwanted pounds.

The Risks. Many of the health-related risks of gaining too much weight are well known. Most notably, a high body mass index (BMI) is a risk factor for diabetes, some types of cancer and serious cardiovascular diseases like heart attack and stroke. But weight gain following joint replacement surgery is problematic in its own right, too, especially if you’re already overweight or obese. That’s because the weight puts additional strain on your new joint, reducing the chances that your surgery will succeed.

It also causes you to put extra weight on your “good” joint, making it more likely that you will eventually require surgery on that joint as well. By some estimates, 37 percent of people with a total knee replacement on one side need to have another one on the opposite side within 10 years.

What’s more, a higher BMI following knee joint replacement surgery increases the likelihood that the components of your prosthesis will loosen, requiring you to undergo revision surgery to fix it.

If you’re already extremely overweight or obese, your doctor is likely to recommend that you lose weight before joint replacement surgery. In addition to putting too much strain on your new joint, excess weight is linked to more challenges during surgery. For example, it’s more difficult for the surgeon to operate on a larger, heavier person, surgical incisions may need to be longer, and poor positioning of the new joint is more common. After surgery, overall complication rates are higher — more than double in obese people.

If you’re not overweight or you’ve already lost some of the weightbefore surgery, you’re ahead of the game, but it’s just as important not to let those extra pounds sneak up on you. The keys to avoiding weight gain or losing weight are the same — diet and exercise.